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Cookies policy
You can manage your cookie preferences at any time
Last updated: 30 November 2023
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers downloaded onto a device when the user accesses certain websites. A cookie will allow a website to recognise a user’s device.
A cookie will contain the name of internet location (the domain) from which the cookie has come and the lifetime of the cookie (a cookie will usually expire after a certain period of time).
Cookies cannot be used to carry viruses, or install malware.
What types of cookie are there and which ones does WorldFirst use?
Two types of cookies are used on this website:
- Session cookies, which are temporary cookies that remain in the cookie file of your browser until you leave the site and;
- Persistent cookies, which remain in the cookie file of your browser for much longer (though how long will depend on the lifetime of the specific cookie).
We use four categories of cookie on our website:
Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are essential in order to use a website and its features. They ensure security and privacy when accessing secure sites. They do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or tracking where you have been on the internet.
If you choose to block these cookies you may experience reduced functionality and not be able to access all or parts of our website.
Performance cookies
These cookies collect data on how visitors interact with the website, including, but not limited to the number of visitors, pages or links accessed and length of time spent on the website or specific page. This statistical data is then used to improve the user experience.
Functionality and profile cookies
These cookies recognise your device when you return to a website. They enable personalised greetings, content and preferences as well as being able to remember login details.
Targeting cookies
These cookies gather information about your browsing habits by remembering your device has visited a website and sharing that information with other organisations such as advertisers or platforms on which a company advertises. They do this to provide you with online advertisements that are targeted to your browsing history and therefore more relevant to you and your interests.
| Cookies | Domain | Purpose / Description | Duration | Type |
| _dc_gtm_UA-1393017-1 | worldfirst.com | Associated with sites using Google Tag Manager to load other scripts and code into a page. | 1 minute |
Google Analytics
|
| _fbp | worldfirst.com | Used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third party advertisers | 3 months | Meta |
| _ga | worldfirst.com | Associated with Google Universal Analytics to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. | 2 years |
Google Analytics
|
| _gali | worldfirst.com | Set by Google Analytics to distinguish users. | 2 years |
Google Analytics
|
| _ga_RY038MK91J | worldfirst.com | Used to persist session state. | 2 years |
Google Analytics
|
| _gat | worldfirst.com | Associated with Google Universal Analytics to throttle the request rate – limiting the collection of data on high traffic sites. | 1 minute |
Google Analytics
|
| _gcl_au | worldfirst.com | Used by Google AdSense for experimenting with advertisement efficiency across websites using their services | 3 months |
Google Analytics
|
| _gid | worldfirst.com | Associated with Google Universal Analytics to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier. | 24 hours |
Google Analytics
|
| _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress | worldfirst.com | This cookie is used to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie. | 30 minutes | Hotjar Ltd |
| _hjFirstSeen | worldfirst.com | This is set to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether this was the first time Hotjar saw this user. It is used by Recording filters to identify new user sessions. | 30 minutes duration, extended on user activity. | Hotjar Ltd |
| _hjSessionUser_1080835 | worldfirst.com | A cookie that holds the current session data. This ensues that subsequent requests within the session window will be attributed to the same Hotjar session. | 365 days duration | Hotjar Ltd |
| ^_hjSession.* | worldfirst.com | to provide functions across pages | Session | Hotjar Ltd |
| ^_hjTLDTest$ | worldfirst.com |
When the hotjar script is run, we try to determine the most common cookie path to use instead of the site’s hostname. This is done so that cookies (if applicable) can be shared across subdomains. After this check, the cookie is removed.
|
Session | Hotjar Ltd |
| ^_hjTLDTest$ | worldfirst.com |
A cookie that holds the current session data. This ensues that subsequent requests within the session window will be attributed to the same icem session.
|
1 minute | Ant International |
| ^__ssid$ | worldfirst.com |
These cookies are used by Google to display personalized advertisements on Google sites, based on recent searches and previous interactions.
|
Session | Google Analytics |
| ^__utmc$ & ^__utmb$ | worldfirst.com |
to store time of visit
|
30 minutes | Google Analytics |
| ^__utma$ | worldfirst.com |
stores the amount of your visits and the time of the first visit, the previous visit, and the current visit
|
persistent | Google Analytics |
| ^_uetvid$ | worldfirst.com |
to store and track visits across websites
|
13 months | Bing Ads |
| _uetsid | worldfirst.com |
to store and track visits across websites
|
1 day | Bing Ads |
| _utmt_UA-000000-0 | worldfirst.com |
to store number of service requests
|
10 minutes | Google Analytics |
| _utmt_UA-2123333-2 | worldfirst.com |
to store number of service requests
|
10 minutes | Google Analytics |
| ^__utmv$ | worldfirst.com |
used to classify a visitor to the website
|
2 years | Google Analytics |
| ^__utmz$ | worldfirst.com |
to store used keyword and search engine
|
6 months | Google Analytics |
First and Third party cookies
Whether a cookie is ‘first’ or ‘third’ party refers to the network placing the cookie. First-party cookies are those set by the website being visited, whilst third-party cookies are set by approved partners.
Some of WorldFirst’s performance and targeting cookies are managed by third parties. WorldFirst carries out due diligence on these partners to ensure they have robust security systems and only permits them to use cookies for their intended purpose. Data from third-party cookies is stored by the third party and not on WorldFirst systems, with WorldFirst being granted access.
From time to time, WorldFirst may also embed external content from other third-party websites within our own website and emails, this could include sites such as Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter) and YouTube. Their cookie usage polices are available on their own websites.
Please note the following third parties may deploy cookies on our Website:
- Cloudfare
- Amazon Web Services
- AB Tasty
- Doubleclick
- New Relic
We may (in accordance with our Website Privacy Policy) share data within the WorldFirst Group of Companies (including companies within the Ant Group) that may identify you.
Cookies in emails
We also use cookies and similar technologies in some emails. These help us to understand whether you’ve opened an email and how you’ve interacted with it.
If you have enabled images, cookies may be set on your computer or device. Cookies will also be set if you click on any link within the email. The types of cookies we use are:
Web beacons: unique identifiers placed in emails to tell us whether you’ve opened them (and if so how often) and how you interacted with them (for example the time you spent reading the email). We also use web beacons to help us display emails in the best format for your device.
Link tracking: some emails will contain a number of hyperlinks, each of which has a unique tag which can be tracked for analytical purposes.
Cookies: our process for delivering emails may cause cookies to be set when you download images or when you click on a link.
If you don’t want to accept cookies from our emails, simply close the email before downloading any images or clicking on any links. You can also set your browser to restrict or reject cookies. These settings will apply to all cookies on websites and emails.
In some instances, depending on your email or browser settings, cookies in an email may be automatically accepted (for example, when you’ve added an email address to your address book or safe senders list). Please check your email browser or device instructions for more information on this.
How do I change my cookie settings?
If you want to restrict or block the cookies we use, you can do this through your browser settings.
How do I change my cookie settings?
If you want to restrict or block the cookies we use, you can do this through your browser settings.
To learn more about controlling cookies on the browser of your mobile device, please refer to your handset manual.
Please note, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies you may not be able to access all parts of our website and may experience reduced functionality.
Changes to the cookies policy
We may update this Cookies Policy from time to time and you should review this policy periodically to stay informed. If you continue to use our services following any such update, you will be deemed to have read and agreed to the updated terms of this Cookies Policy.
This policy was last updated in November 2023.
